Bigfoot conventions like the Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson,...

The "Bigfoot"monster truck was a hit in the late 1990s.
Photo: ALAN SINGER, UPN

The "Bigfoot"monster truck was a hit in the late 1990s.

Jeffrey Meldrum displays what he describes as a casting of a footprint from a Bigfoot creature, taken in the Blue Mountains of eastern Washington in 2006. Casts and footprints like this are found all the time.
Photo: JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN

Jeffrey Meldrum displays what he describes as a casting of a...

This sign on the Pikes Peak highway in Colorado is sure to put Sasquatch spotters at ease.
Photo: John Yang, Signspotting.com

This sign on the Pikes Peak highway in Colorado is sure to put...

One of the mascots for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver was Quatchi, a friendly sasquatch.
Photo: Ellen Creager, MCT

Kemah man Robert Riggs is telling the story of his 30 year hunt for Bigfoot which saw him leave the bright lights of the boardwalk for the misty wilds of Big Thicket national preserve.

Riggs is the co-author of Bigfoot: exploring the myth and discovering the truth, a recent chronicle of his search which started back in 1979.

"I have been investigating the Bigfoot phenomenon for over 30 years," Riggs told NewsFix, "I'm reluctant to use the word 'Bigfoot' because I can't say for sure that what we're investigating here is the same animal that's seen in the Pacific northwest."

Riggs is also the subject of a feature in this month's Houstonia which saw him take unsuspecting reporters out into the depths of the forest to experience the mystery for themselves.

"One of the things that will often happen in a Bigfoot encounter is that things will go dead silent in the woods—all the insects and the birds will go quiet for unknown reasons. And that ain't natural," Riggs told the Houstonia team.

Riggs says he was inundated with letters from people claiming to have spotted the hairy giant when he first put his hand up saying he was researching the phenomena.

The closest he's got so far, though, is hearing the sound of the supposed animal's howl.

"There's no way I can adequately describe how loud that was," Riggs said in the Houstonia.